Seamanship

The Art and Science of Managing Your Boat

Seamanship is both the science and the art of handling a boat. Science
because so much of it is based on factual knowledge and specific skills
such as navigation, boat handling and ropework. Art because there is an
innate sense of creativity and feeling that is hard to put your finger
on but is present none-the-less such as sensing how your boat is going
to move when a particular wave strikes or sensing just what that
troubled sky might bring. The need for certain skills will vary with the
type and size of boat you have. But, this is a matter of scale. The
basics are necessary foundations to not only enjoy sailing but to do so
with safety.

And safety is the bottom line. As the quote from the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary Search and Rescue Crew Manual (Pacific Region)
says, the lessons of countless mistakes over thousands of years have
have been distilled into a set of traditions. Those traditions lie at
the heart of what we call seamanship. And a solid knowledge of
seamanship will hopefully prevent you from repeating the mistakes of the
past.

For an excellent precis on seamanship, here is Adm. Chester Nimitz'
Letter to the Fleet
following the weather disaster of Dec 18th, 1944. In that terrible
storm, the United States Navy lost 3 warships sunk and another 28
damaged, 9 severely. Nearly 800 men lost their lives. It was one of the
greatest losses in WWII in the Pacific Theatre – and from a natural
event, not enemy action. Paragraph 8 is worth particular attention.

Seamanship refers to a number of areas. These areas include passage planning, navigation,
weather, rules of the road, (ColRegs) manoeuvring at dock, anchoring,
communications, marlinspike (ropework), passage planning and managing
emergencies. Some of these topic have been covered elsewhere on this
site under their own headings.

Passage Planning

A Passage Plan
is a written plan you prepare in advance to record all of the
necessary information for a safe sailing trip. Its purpose is to make you consider all aspects of the 3 essential parts of a voyage - the boat, the crew and the passage itself.

Not only is it very good seamanship to prepare such a Plan to ensure a more relaxed trip but the
planning itself can be a fun way to prepare for the voyage. And this
applies even for a short trip.

Weather is the real 'greatest show on earth'. Its free. Its
happening all around us 24 hours a day. And, it lies at the very heart
of sailing. Because of their size, the Great lakes have their own impact
on the general weather systems. This section on weather facts and how
weather works is designed to give you a practical, basic guide to the
great weather engine that drives our climate.

The ColRegs is the well-known abbreviation for the
Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at
Sea, 1972 . These 'rules of the road' were set out by the International
Maritime Organization to reduce the chance of collisions by
standardizing lights, signals and actions of vessels.

For 4,000 years mariners have gone to sea in ships
and boats and for 4,000 years a certain number of those mariners and
ships have not returned. During the history of seafaring, mariners have
made many mistakes and those that survive, learn to change their
behaviour. These lessons are translated over the years into traditions.
Old mariners pass on these traditions to young mariners.

a practical, easy-to-use yet thorough format to
record all of the necessary information about your boat and any
cruises you take – whether exploring home waters or voyaging to
distant ports across the Great Lakes.

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